A few pieces short of a jigsaw puzzle

I started this 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle before my surgery - just couldn't wait - and finished it this morning. I neglected it for quite a bit during that time, just couldn't get up the oomph to work on it. It's a used puzzle, purchased at a sale at the local community center. I assume the missing 9 pieces happened before I got it, that I didn't lose *that* many, despite one cat's penchant for destruction. (I covered the puzzle with poster board when not working on it.)

I took a picture of the poster because the puzzle was too large to photograph without climbing onto something, not recommended for someone with only one useful arm. It's title is "Quilting Shed", although I think "Fiber Shed" would be more accurate. There is a spinning wheel, a loom, a sewing machine, lots of cloth and yarn, two cats, a dog, etc. Wouldn't it be great to have a studio like this?

Healing is going slowly. My left shoulder was a reverse replacement, which involves removal of some of the muscles (which one doesn't really need, apparently). The right is a regular replacement, so I still have all the muscles. This means twice weekly visits for passive physical therapy, plus passive exercises to do at home FIVE times a day, to prevent frozen shoulder. Then I also caught a cold after visiting the doctor's office to have the staples removed. Needless to say, I've been masking since then.

Xmas may be delayed this year, due to the weather. Not just snow but frigid temperatures. I'm not much of a holiday person, so I'm okay with whatever happens. And as much as I appreciate my SO and daughter for helping me while I heal, I have to admit I am enjoying some alone time for a change.

Hope you have the holiday you wish for!

Piling on

Sorry for the silence but stuff keeps happening. A friend passed away from melanoma (get those moles checked!), then last weekend I came down with some kind of bug (Covid test was negative). So while still recovering from surgery, I am also recovering from illness. I was able to abandon the brace this past week and while I am still not supposed to do much, my shoulder is loosening up. Oddly, my other shoulder now feels better, so maybe no more joint replacements in my future. (Fingers crossed.)

Meanwhile, I completed two more jigsaw puzzles and am now puzzled out.

The velcro straight jacket

I knew I would have to wear an immobilizing brace post-surgery, but was not prepared for all the velcro. There is an armband around my upper arm to keep me from moving my shoulder, a cuff around my wrist, and an over-the-shoulder strap, all of which is attached to a wide band around my chest. All of these pieces are covered with a LOT of Velcro so they stick together. Last summer, I planned to finish a poncho I had been knitting, but didn't. Just as well, as today is the first day cool enough to wear such a thing, plus wool clings to velcro like a burr on a dog. Interestingly, I've discovered that superwash wool is relatively easy to peel off of the velcro.

The staples were removed this past week, and I asked if I could knit again. Sadly, the answer was NO because apparently I also had a bicep tenotomy during the surgery. Two more weeks of the brace, then two weeks after that I start physical therapy. Hopefully, somewhere along that timeline, someone will say it is okay to knit.

Another book I recently purchased is Annie MacHale's Three-Color Pickup for Inkle Weavers. This is advanced inkle weaving at its most challenging. One needs to be relative proficient at Baltic pickup before tackling this, so I requested a book from the library that should help with that.

Before my surgery, I was feeling a bit bored with fiber: I was tired of spinning the red Tunis and frustrated with the inkle weaving and not able to do much else. Now I am getting antsy to get back at it, have lots of projects planned. Hopefully it won't be too long. Meanwhile, there are jigsaw puzzles to tackle.

(One piece is missing. I purchased this puzzle used from the community center, so don't know if the piece was already missing or if I lost it.)

Found

One reason I have not posted much lately is I decided to do some household and fiber rearranging. I'm still not done, but in the process of moving a cupboard of spun and/or dyed yarn from one room to another, I found the samples I dyed using various parts of my false indigo plant. I have yet to dye with the roots, so once spring makes an appearance, I'll add that to the bunch. (I found something else, but now can't remember what it was because I suffer from CRS - Can't Remember Shit.)

Knitting: I visited one of my ortho doctors this past week and received cortisone shots in each shoulder to tide me over until I can schedule surgery (which will be after I get both doses of the Covid vaccine). While it takes a week or so for the cortisone to do its thing, a numbing agent in the serum gives a couple of days respite. So I picked up my knitting and overdid it. Now I can barely move my arms without pain. Ouch.
Spinning: I started two-plying the Socks that Rock singles. I gave up the idea of three-ply with one ply being black. I'm about halfway done, although I might run it through the wheel again, to tighten up the ply a bit.
Weaving: Now that I have new glasses, I laid out the sari yarn runner and started fiddling with the finishing. That will take a while.

Another reason I have not posted much lately is I fell down the jigsaw puzzle hole again. I thought this puzzle would not be all that difficult. I was wrong. The puzzle pieces were not cut in standard shapes.

ANOTHER reason I have not posted much lately is I have been feeling a bit broken. The pandemic and politics were bad enough, but then a college friend passed away from Covid, my ex-sister-in-law died from a stroke, and when I went online to find her obituary, I found her husband's, from this past November. The domestic terrorists trying to destroy democracy was the final straw. If we can just hang on for a while longer, the grown-ups will be in charge again and hopefully at least some things will get better. Stay safe!

I sewed!

With the new mandates coming down from on high about wearing masks when out in public, I decided to drag out my old Kenmore sewing machine and try making a few. I am not a sewer by any means, and my masks will win no prizes at the county fair, but I did manage to make three, based on a pattern in the NYTimes. (The NYT Covid-19 coverage is free right now, no pay wall.) I don't think they said anything about what the seam allowance should be, so I gave the first one, size small, a 1/2" seam allowance. That resulted in a mask that was too small. The second mask was size medium, with 1/4" seam allowance - too big! Back to size small but with a 1/4" seam allowance - aah! Just right!

Knitting: Still working on the socks. I'm about halfway through the foot.
Spinning: I finished spinning the first half of the 'Neapolitan' roving.
Weaving: Not much progress made with the online class because I have been playing with the Saffron pocket loom.

Last week I felt like I needed something new to distract myself, so I cracked open a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. I thought once I got the buildings and people done, the rest would come easy. Nope - too much white snow and ice, too much black night sky. And then I thought I had lost two pieces. I found one perilously close to the floor register. The other one was in the Roomba.

I hope you are all playing it safe, staying home, washing your hands, practicing social distancing. The thing I miss the most is hugs. That is the first thing I am going to do when this whole thing abates - give and get some hugs!